Longsnap.com

The long snapping position is a unique one in the NFL.  The path to success is often a winding one, with many ups and downs.  Last month, I wrote about the journey client Patrick Scales made to earn a late season roster spot with the Ravens after four years.

Andrew DePaola of the Buccaneers had a similar path. This season, DePaola snapped in every game for Tampa Bay, becoming a rookie at age 27.  Joe Kania of Buccaneers.com wrote a detailed story today about DePaola’s fascinating journey.

DePaola was a quarterback in high school with a single Division One offer from Rutgers.  DePaola eventually became a backup snapper at Rutgers before snapping part of his junior season and all of his senior season.  After his senior season, he earned a tryout with the Saints and another with the Patriots. However, two years removed from college, his big break finally came when his college coach, Greg Schiano called.  Schiano was coaching in Tampa Bay and wanted to bring DePaola in for a workout.

DePaola eventually earned a spot in training camp with Tampa for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, each time falling short of making the final roster.  This year, his big break finally came when the Bucs brought him back in April (ironically after an injury to Scales) and he made the final roster.

Some snappers are very fortunate and earn an NFL roster spot immediately as a rookie.  However, in many cases, snappers must show incredible determination to achieve their dreams.  As the stories this year involving Scales and DePaola show, hard work and perseverance can eventually pay dividends.

For over 30 years, Rick Gosselin of The Dallas Morning-News has published his annual NFL special teams rankings.  Gosselin ranks each team in 22 special teams categories and assigns points from one for the best to 32 for the worst.

It should be no surprise that the Philadelphia Eagles were the top team this year.  After finishing 18th last season, the Eagles finished with 201.5 points, 26.5 points better than Buffalo.  Among other things, the Eagles had seven touchdowns on special teams and blocked six kicks.

The other top teams after Philadelphia and Buffalo were New England, Atlanta and Baltimore.  At the bottom were Tennessee, San Diego, Washington, Carolina and, in last place, Green Bay.

One of the more exciting elements of a great NFL playoff weekend was the back-to-back leaps over the long snapper by Kam Chancellor of the Seahawks.  Chancellor leaped over Panther snapper J.J. Jansen on consecutive field goal attempts.  Unfortunately for Chancellor, his athletic plays went for naught.

On the first kick, Chancellor just missed the ball and the kick was good.  However, a false start penalty on the Panthers moved the kick back.  The second time, Chancellor leaped Jansen again and the kick was missed, but Chancellor made contact with kicker Graham Gano, resulting in a penalty.

Last month, Daren Bates of the Rams cleanly executed a similar move over Giants snapper Zak DeOssie and blocked a field goal attempt.  A few NFL rules come into play on these efforts to block a kick by leaping over the snapper.  If the defender touches the ball, there is no penalty.  Also, if the player leaps over the snapper and does not land on another player, there is no penalty.  Contact with a player, however, will result in a flag.